This morning we got to the Visitors Center by seven-thirty AM. We received our safety briefing from Ranger Santorius and headed off in the van. Destination: Quitobaquito Pond. This is the site of the rare pupfish. The trip is in the closed area of the Monument, thus the warning session. As far as danger goes, it was uneventful. I did have a seatbelt that only retracted which made the trip a tad uncomfortable, but otherwise all was well.

The pond has been the site of various enterprises over the last two hundred and some years. There have been ranches nearby and thus a small group of houses, including a store and such.

The road to the area paralells Mexico Highway 2 and is separated by a sixty yard wide "no man's land". There is a fence designed to keep vehicles out of the monument, as well as a pedestrian fence to keep them on the other side

. The pedestrian fence is purportedly twenty-five feet in height. The tallest available ladder in Mexico, per the Ranger, is twenty-seven feet. You get the drift.

The area surrounding the pond is lush, with cottonwood trees and some old pomegranate trees also. The Park Service is trying to get the pomegranate trees back to life, but it looks like a difficult project. One is showing some green growth, but that's about all.

We saw several coots on the pond, as well as a pair of cinnamon teal ducks. These were new to me and I managed to get two good shots of them.

Back to the tour...there were ten of each in each van, led by a vehicle with two heavily armed rangers, just in case. Incidents involving tourists are nil up to now.

When returned, about four hours later, Lynn and I took a walk around the Desert View Trail. I took pictures with the phone and had some luck there. The view from the higher section was great. Our friend, the wind, has arrived again, so we had to be cautious in the open areas along the trail. We suffered no incidents and arrived back safely.

Now we sit in the coach and rock and roll with Moriah, the desert wind. A new group of folks has moved in near us and are extremely noisy, especially for this time of the day. Perhaps Moriah will extricate them in time. Thanks for coming back.

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Comments

Dennis
on Mar 7, 2012 at 01:33PM

Liked the pictures. Are you going to venture into Mexico? You are very close.

Wendy
on Mar 8, 2012 at 03:18AM

These are beautiful pictures, Ralph. The sky and vista are amazing! If you go to Mexico, don't take the ladder...

Mary C.
on Mar 8, 2012 at 10:27PM

Keep me on the blog list, Ralph. I can tell that you never ride in the back seat of almost any car. Almost all seat belts in rear seats have no "give"...I suppose that is because mostly because they might have child-restraint seats in them and any "give" would negate their purpose....They are extremely uncomfortable, I agree.

mike noble
on Mar 9, 2012 at 02:44PM

this place looks great and is on my list though it appears you need an armed guard for some of it....I might provide my own when I go. I have noticed that you mention the wind a lot in some of your blogs so have sent you a couple songs....one is actually called Mariah---no not Mariah Carey. I think it is an old song from the 50s (though maybe not this version)...but speaks of the wind you have been talking about. Nice photos too...makes me want to go there more.